Business of Fashion strikes deal with Financial Times

The Financial Times announced Thursday it is leading a new Series B investment round in Business of Fashion, investing alongside Index Ventures and Felix Capital, who led the Seed and Series A rounds, respectively.

Other existing investors in Business of Fashion from fashion, media and technology are also participating in the new round.

BoF plans to accelerate the growth of its community of 5 million people around the world, including more than 35,000 paying members and more than 500 corporate partners in 125 countries.

FT Strategies, the consulting arm of the FT, will support this goal by providing industry-leading expertise in subscription technology to BoF. The FT and BoF will explore additional areas of collaboration in the future.

John Ridding, FT Group CEO, said: “The FT has long had a leading position in coverage of the luxury consumer sector, notably through the award-winning How to Spend It, and this investment will give us greater presence in the B2B and industry agenda. We are really impressed by the quality and dynamism of The Business of Fashion. There is a natural alignment between our global mindset and our focus on reader revenue to support quality journalism. We are excited to partner with Imran and his team to explore those synergies further.”

The Business of Fashion retains complete editorial independence from its investors.

Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.